Rerun
Hi folks, I'd like to repost a slightly edited posting from November 2005. It took a great deal of time to compose and I don't have time now to create a newbie. I feel many of the points remain valid. Thanks, Redan.
On examining the history of labor relations in the US, it becomes clear that few companies in any industry end up with a labor union unless it is richly deserved. Even then, it is seldom easy to win a union drive. Unfortunately, so often management concludes the employees are an enemy rather than an asset. Companies will usually go to any length and expense to subvert labor, particularly organized labor. To the typically myopic view of management, there is little incentive for them to have concern for the well being of employees. Often management will expend vast amounts of resources and energy in their anti-labor efforts. Usually this is at the great expense of numerous other issues which merit attention and would be much more beneficial to their business if addressed. For example the umpteen ways ASA could reduce costs and become more “competitive” through effective leadership and management rather than sticking it to the pilots. (Efficient ramp, modern effective scheduling system, reduction in law suits by proper administration of FMLA, and of course the hundreds of thousands or millions in billings to the Ford and Harrison anti-labor law firm).These battles with labor often become something like a personal vendetta and have done enormous damage to countless companies destroying any and all good will, example: Currently we’re witnessing the demise of any and all respect for and credibility of Mr. Charles Tutt and Mr. Jerry Atkin. Almost universally, management is so out of touch with their employees that they actually feel their actions are justified. And regrettably, labor is an easy target, much easier for management to attack than focusing on other fundamental aspects of the business. We’ve all seen it: management has easy access to the public ear. They are able to put on whatever spin they desire (with the aid of their high priced anti-labor law firm) and they can “cook” the books to “prove” their point. Additionally, it is simply just easier to come up with a black and white, in print “labor cost reduction” there for everyone to see.
Hence, we see why there are numerous firms in the US specializing in “labor relations.” These folks have a book of recipes to follow in attempts to thwart labor. The efforts of companies to subdue labor are mapped out for them by these firms...while generating huge billing for them. As far as airlines go, the pattern has become so predictable it’s almost boring. Labor groups are played against each other. Doomsday scenarios are spun that require labor to give back (to compensate for management’s mistakes and inadequacies if truth be told). The trend is not just to prevent any gains by labor, but to chip away at what labor already has i.e. reinterpretation/renegotiation of existing good faith agreements, or reduction of benefits realized in new contracts. The most common tactics: doom and gloom, divide and conquer. Every effort is made to circumvent the unity of the pilot group. And the sad result, the pilot group almost always caves in. They are their own worst enemy. A close to home example, many counseled the Comair pilots to reject the LOA by management in January 2005, I’ll bet they wished they had listened.
The here and now: Like it or not, this is the situation the ASA pilots are facing. We don’t want it, but our hand is forced. There are many examples of modern management which recognizes employee value and the benefits and efficiencies of everyone playing on the same team, Jet Blue and Southwest are notable for this. Unfortunately, ASA has always been managed with the archaic old school myopic style of decades ago. Some of the dinosaurs have been run out of town, but for the most part the players haven’t changed much. Hence we have to work it the old fashioned way, we simply have no choice.
ASA pilots are a great bunch of folks. We want to be team players. We want be on time, to save gas, to satisfy customers, to make money for our company. Pilots are problem solvers who relish a challenge. But our management (and their expensive law firm) know this well. They have us pegged. They can read us like a book. They can and do use these fine qualities against us...to manipulate us. They know we will play along. We’ll use our cell phone (unreimbursed), we’ll do everyone else’s job to get out on time. And apparently, (they hope) here in soon to be 2007, we’ll be satisfied with a mid 1990’s contract. I, for one, have noticed a bit of an increase in the cost of living since the mid 1990’s.
The greatest asset we have is our unity. If we are unable to demonstrate tremendous unity we have lost. In the science of “labor relations” the primary objective is to destroy unity through any means necessary...any means. Stand by for management to do or say anything to this end. There will be attempts to play one labor group against the other. Anyone else noticed comments from rampers, mechs, etc about the “spoiled” pilots? Threats up to and including the dissolution of ASA will come. These will be creative and will sound valid. But the pilot group must not be fazed. It is all just part of the game...and it is a game. Rather than cave in, we have to call their bluff. Throw it right back in their face aggressively. The ASA pilots have to learn from history. We must play the game more tactfully than our predecessors. We have to play like the first string, like we’re smart and know what we’re doing...not like a bench warmer coming in for the first time. We cannot forget that any truly valid threats levied by our management will come to pass regardless of our contract outcome. If we are told we have to settle for a substandard contract or the company will close, the company is going to be closed anyway no matter what we do. If we are told aircraft will be taken away, and this is truly a valid threat, then the aircraft are going away regardless of our actions. This same scenario has been played so many times now I can’t believe anyone still falls for it. The bottom line: if we remain unified no matter what happens, we will prevail. If we force our management to deal with us, they will deal with us. We must provide the incentive because they have none.
Obviously, I will provide a yes vote with relish. I realize our management is simply doing business the way they believe business should be done. This means we have to deal with them through the few means at our disposal. I refuse to be a party to any further erosion of our career. We truly don’t have much to lose. At this point in time it has become necessary for us to inform Mr. Jerry Atkin and Mr. Charles Tutt they have already won the race to the bottom...we’re already there. Mr. Atkin and Mr. Tutt, please be advised: any further erosion will result in an occupation that is simply not worth having.
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